How to Get Your Amazon Suspension Lifted

Your Amazon account is a valuable asset. It gives you access to the world’s largest online marketplace with the potential to earn a full-time living. So, a suspended account is a massive blow to your business.

It’s important to note that you only get one Amazon account. Besides a few rare circumstances where people are granted permission to open another, you’re stuck with the one you have. This means if you’re dealing with a suspension you need to do everything you can to get it lifted.

We’ll walk you through how to appeal your suspension. We’ll also fill you in on why an account might get suspended and let you know a few things you can do to make sure you stay on Amazon’s good side.

Reasons Your Account Might Get Suspended

Amazon takes its reputation very seriously, which means they hold their sellers to very high standards. If you fail to reach some important benchmarks or violate their policies they won’t hesitate to suspend you.

Here are some of the most common reasons for accounts to get suspended:

Poor Seller Metrics

Amazon tracks all your statistics, including order defect rate, late deliveries, and customer complaints. If they start to see too many issues your account will be in danger of getting suspended.

Here are the benchmarks you need to hit to keep your account safe:

Order Defect Rate: Below 1%

Pre-Fulfillment Cancellation Rate: Below 2.5%

Late Shipment Rate: Below 4%

Buyer-Seller Response Time: Within 24 hours

If you sell a good quality product, use a reliable fulfillment solution, and stay on top of your customer inquiries these marks should be easy to maintain.

Selling Restricted or Counterfeit Products

Amazon has strict rules about what you can and can’t sell. They have a wide array of restrictions on items like weapons, hazardous items, and tobacco products. They also have a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to counterfeit goods.

In most cases, if your item violates their policies it will be flagged during the listing process. But if it somehow slips through Amazon’s filters and they discover it later on you might get suspended, even if it was an honest mistake.

Violating Amazon’s Policies

There are some policies you need to follow to keep your account in good standing. If you violate any of them it could lead to a suspension.

Some of the policies you should be aware of are: 

• Don’t misrepresent yourself.
• Act in a manner that ensures a trustworthy experience for sellers.
• Never list products that might cause harm to customers.
• Don’t manipulate customer reviews.
• Don’t attempt to manipulate Amazon’s search results or sales rankings.

What to Do if Your Account Gets Suspended

A suspended Amazon account is a big deal, but it is salvageable. You’ll have a chance to appeal your suspension and present a plan of action to correct any issues. Assuming you take all the right steps you should be able to get reinstated and start selling again.

Here’s what you need to do:

Determine Why You’re Suspended

If your account is suspended Amazon will send you a notice to let you know. Unfortunately, these emails are often vague so you might have to do some digging to determine what the real problem is.

The most likely reason for a suspended account is your performance metrics, so check there first. Review your stats against the benchmarks listed above. If anything looks to be out of the acceptable range then that’s likely the problem.

You’ll also want to check specific products. For example, if one of your items has a high order defect rate that’s bringing your overall score down you should remove it from your inventory. This will show Amazon that you’re serious about solving the problem.

You can also look at your customer feedback, messages, and performance notifications for any clues about your suspension.

Contact Amazon

If you genuinely don’t know why you’re suspended, and you still have access to support services, you should open a ticket with Seller Support to get some clarification. It may be tough to just sit around and wait for a reply, but until you know exactly why you’re suspended you won’t be able to put together an effective appeal.

Appeal Your Suspension

Once you’ve determined the reason you’re suspended you can submit your appeal to Amazon. To do this, go to the Performance Notification section of your account, find your suspension, and click “Appeal.”

Here are some tips for creating a quality appeal:

• Take responsibility for the issue that caused you to get suspended, even if you don’t feel that it’s your fault.
• Don’t criticize Amazon or argue your suspension. 
• Don’t blame customers or Amazon for your suspension.
• Include an action plan that details all the steps you’re going to take to resolve the problem.

For your action plan, keep it professional and be as specific as possible. Don’t just tell them you’re going to lower your order defect rate. Tell them how you plan to do that. For example, if one of your items has an exceptionally high defect rate tell them you’ve removed it from your inventory and detail how you’re going to improve quality control moving forward.

Amazon employees are busy, so it’s a good idea to write up your action plan in bullet points. That way it’s easy for them to skim over and quickly understand what you plan to do.

How to Prevent a Suspension

Here are a few tips to make sure your account doesn’t get suspended:

• Answer Customer Questions Quickly: An easy way to keep customers happy is to respond to their inquiries as quickly as possible. If you want to speed up your response time download the Amazon Seller App so you can respond to messages on your phone. 
• Close, Archive, Or Delete Old Listings: Don’t leave old listings up if you’re no longer selling them, as it may lead to bad feedback. Make sure they’re closed so they’re no longer appearing in Amazon searches.
• Don’t Argue with Customers: If someone wants to return an item or requests a refund you should probably just give it to them. Buyers hold the power on Amazon and getting into a fight with a customer usually isn’t worth it.
• Sell Quality Products: If you sell high-quality products you won’t have to worry about complaints or defects. AMZScout offers some of the best Amazon product research tools to help you find great products that your customers will love.
• Use FBA: By letting Amazon fulfill your orders you’ll put them in charge of your shipping. That means late deliveries aren’t your responsibility anymore.
• Don’t Sell Restricted or Counterfeit Goods: Review Amazon’s list of restricted products to make sure what you’re selling is allowed. And never sell anything counterfeit. 

If you conduct yourself honestly and follow the tips above you shouldn’t run into any problems.

Conclusion

It’s very upsetting to have your Amazon account suspended, but it’s possible to get it reinstated. By doing your research and submitting a proper appeal you should be able to get the matter cleared up and eventually return to selling.